Social Issues/Awareness

Not far from the high-end resorts and golf courses, Casa Hogar, a refuge for children and teenagers unable to live with their parents, is celebrating a recent renovation that provides them expanded access to clean water.

The Liberty Learning Foundation is an Alabama-based organization dedicated to teaching children the importance of civics through hands-on demonstrations that take them beyond the classroom. Learn why Protective Life is proud to support this organization’s efforts to empower and inspire America’s youngest citizens.

The circumstances that bring women to shelters like First Light have changed. Director of volunteer services Deborah Everson calls it a stew of factors, and the recipe looks something like this: “1 cup mental illness, 3 dashes of joblessness, 2 scoops of addiction to medication to deal with the mental illness.” She shares this recipe for homelessness to church groups, organizations and businesses, hoping to offer insight into an issue that is perceived by most as “someone else’s problem.” And it is “until that stew happens in their families,” she adds. And when it does, First Light is there to help. In the 1980s when First Light was just a volunteer-operated emergency night shelter for women and children located in the basement of First Presbyterian Church in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, it was easy to describe the face of homelessness. “They were bag ladies. Single women. Alcoholics or prostitutes,” Everson says.…

Four years ago, Marcus Fetch had nothing to lose. The young Nebraska native was a drifter, moving from town to town picking up construction jobs when he needed money. At 24, he landed in Birmingham, Alabama, not knowing a soul. What happened next was fate in the making.

Addressing the systemic challenges of poverty is no easy task. But in Birmingham’s Woodlawn community, this is exactly what’s happening through multi-pronged efforts designed to build long-term success.